


All I want for Christmas.

by TayBartlett9000



Category: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Genre: Christmas Eve, Christmas Wishes, Hope, Love, M/M, emplied romanse, lonelyness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 23:52:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9044810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TayBartlett9000/pseuds/TayBartlett9000
Summary: It is Christmas Eve, and a drunk Ford Prefect sits waiting for his gratest Christmas wish to be granted. But will his Christmas wish come true?





	

All I want for Christmas.

By Tay Bartlett.

 

Ford Prefect   sat by the fire as the red and orange flames danced merrily in the grate. His slightly glazed eyes were fixed intently on the fire as the bitter tang of wood smoke filled his nostrils. A bottle of what had been very expensive Vodca stood on the coffee table at his left side, now dishearteningly empty. Though the fire blazed brightly before him, Ford shivered in his thin and   scruffy clothing, wrapping his arms tighter around his body. Bending down as if he had only just remembered it was lying there, Ford picked up his towel, now tattered and covered with the dirt and debris from various space ports and draped the garment over his shoulders in an effort to keep the chill wind away from his  body. It was proving to be a fruitless task however, for the winter wind was blowing a Gail outside his small flat and snaking  under the gap beneath Ford’s livingroom door.

Ford Prefect had been keeping a lonely vidule by the fireside for some hours now, watching and waiting for what would be the best Christmas present he had ever had. If his guest chose to show up for this special Christmas Eve night that is.  He had sent the invitation days ago in the midst of a night of drunken recklessness that he had never felt before, but thus far he had received no reply. His heart was fluttering like a trapped butterfly behind a tightly closed window pain and his palms were slippery with nervous sweat. Ford had never before felt so nervous, so expectant yet so hopelessly out of control in his life.  Hense the drinking. It was the only way Ford knew how to cope with   powerful emotions such as these, emotions that he wasn’t used to.

The clock on the wall above the mantelpiece ticked on as the time passed. A swift glance out of the window showed Ford that a blizzard of quite epick proportions was raging away outside. It was a total whiteout already and Ford had the sense that his guest would never make it to his little flat. Barely  controlled despair  welled up within  Ford Prefect’s heart inspire of the  copious levels of alcohol that   were causing his brain to be  rather unsure of precisely what he was feeling. He slumped in his chair and the towel fell from his shoulders into the grate to land in the centre of the flames. He didn’t even have the heart to pick it up. He just sat there and watched the dancing flames licking away at the fabric, turning his towel into a pile of smoking ashes.

Thoughts of a rather desperate nature were racing around inside Ford’s  head in search of something cohesive to connect with. It wasn’t working. Ford could only catch hold of a few random images at a time. All of these images featured the same person, a rather worried and harassed man in pajamas and a dressing gown, clutching a towel that was not unlike the one now smoking in the dying embers of Ford   Prefect’s fireplace.

 These random images wandered aimlessly around Ford’s mind, accompanied by memories that Ford would never be able to forget. That man had travelled the length and bredth of the galaxy with him. He had faced the same dangers, known the same fears, or lack of them. Ford had always been there by his side, helping and guiding the man who knew nothing about galactic travel. So why was his friend unwilling to be by his side at this moment? A moment when Ford needed him more than he had ever needed him in his life. Nobody,   be it Earth man or Betelgeusean wanted to spend Christmas alone after all.

Ford rose swiftly, unable to simply sit around and wait any longer. He stumbled towards the livingroom door and wrenched it open with unnecessary force. He walked through to his bedroom and collapsed onto his bed without bothering to undress. He closed his eyes in exawstion, no longer able to keep them open any longer. His body felt ridiculously heavy as he lay there, settling deeper and deeper into the soft mattress of his bed. His heart felt if possible, even heavier, weighed down with emotion. It had taken extraordinary courage to send the invitation.  Ford had battled with the indecisions for ages. He had harboured the feelings of unspoken attraction towards him for some time and the courage to ask him for his company this Christmas had only taken hold a few days ago. After fighting to portray the braver, brasher and less sensitive side of Ford Prefect to the world, he was now ready to let the barriers fall, for him.  

The silent flurries of snow outside had turned into a storm of hailstones. The tiny balls of solid ice smashed into the roof and windows of Ford’s house, the deafining racket forcing his eyes open once more. It sounded to Ford as if thousands of tiny fists were punching into the stone walls of his flat and he sat up slowly, looking out at the wild weather outside his window.

A loud rapping on his door and Ford froze; the stuper from the night’s drinking vanishing from his head. Another loud rapping on his back door. Ford stood up, every trace of his alcohol indused confusion gone. His heart suddenly sped up ten fold as he made his way down the hall to his back door.

Ford Prefect fumbled clumsily with the locked door and threw it open.

Standing on the doorstep before him, was his guest. The man was standing shivering before the ginger Betelgeusean, wearing that same set of panamas and faded green dressing gown. Ford felt a smile spreading across his features as he stepped back, allowing Arthur Dent to cross the threshold and enter his flat. As he closed the door behind him, locking it once more, Arthur removed his dressing gown and hung it on a peg in the hall as if he had been at Ford’s a thousand times.

“Good God,” the Earthman said with a huge theatrical sigh, turning to face his space travelling companion, “what a night. I hope you know that I would only travel half way across London on a night like this for you.”

Ford nodded, a happy bubble of contentment expanding in his chest at these words. “I am touched,” he said brightly, leading the way into the livingroom. “Fancy a drink?” 

Arthur nodded eagerly, following Ford inside and taking a seat on the sofa. “Cheers,” he said happily, accepting a glass from Ford and leaning backwards, “thanks mate.”

Taking a seat beside Arthur on the sofa, Ford Prefect allowed the other man to prattle on about the terribly difficult journey he had partaken in to make his way to the house, glad that he would have been the only person for whom Arthur would have done it.  Pride ballooned in his chest. It looked as if Ford’s Christmas wish would come true after all.  Oh how he was looking forward to tomorrow. But then again, tonight was shaping up to be a pretty good experience as well.


End file.
